Printed helicoids with embedded air channels make sensorized segments for soft continuum robots

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel fabrication method for embedding air channels and sensors into helicoid-based soft robots, enabling scalable, sensorized soft robotic systems with enhanced sensing and control capabilities.

Contribution

It introduces a scalable, vision-controlled multi-material 3D printing process for embedding sensors into helicoid lattice soft robots, facilitating large-scale, sensorized soft robotic systems.

Findings

Mechanical properties characterized for four helicoid designs

Sensor response validated for fundamental deformation modes

A 14-DoF soft arm demonstrated for trajectory tracking and grasping

Abstract

Soft robots enable safe, adaptive interaction with complex environments but remain difficult to sense and control due to their highly deformable structures. Architected soft materials such as helicoid lattices offer tunable stiffness and strength but are challenging to instrument because of their sparse geometry. We introduce a fabrication method for embedding air channels into helicoid-based soft continuum robots. Multi-material segments fabricated via vision-controlled jetting in a single print interface with PCBs housing miniature pressure sensors and IMUs for distributed deformation sensing. We characterize the mechanical properties of four helicoid designs and validate the sensor response to fundamental deformation modes. To demonstrate the platform's scalability, we construct and mechanically evaluate a meter-scale, 14-DoF cable-driven soft arm capable of open-loop trajectory tracking and object grasping, with tactile-based stiffness detection demonstrated using the gripper sensors. This approach establishes a scalable fabrication strategy for sensorized architected materials in large-scale soft robotic systems.